Tubular furniture construction



June 30, 1953 w. N. BROWN 2,643,706

TUBULAR FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Feb. 10, 1948 zzvvmrox.FIG.6 WILLIAM N. BROWN ATT ' Patented June 30, 1953 TUBULAR FURNITURECONSTRUCTION William N. Brown, Fort Wayne, Ind.-, assignor to ArnoltCorporation, Warsaw, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Original applicationFebruary 10, 1948, Serial No. 7,332.- Divided and this applicationOctober 6, 1949, Serial N0. 119,922

Claims.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No.7,332, filed February 10, 1948, now issued as Patent No. 2,578,397,patented December 11, 1951.

The invention relates generally to the art of making furniture and hasparticular reference to furniture structures made of metal tubing.

Tubular metal framed furniture has long been shipped and sold inassembled condition to the ultimate retail outlet, and it has beenrecognized that it would be a great deal more advantageous andeconomical to ship and sell such furniture in knocked down or KD form tothe retail outlet where it could be assembled prior to display for sale.However, such knocked down components for making up such furniture haveordinarily been difficult to assemble, particularly by workmen notpossessed of special tools nor of special skills. 1

It is, therefore, an important object of this invention to enabletubular metal framed furniture to be shipped in knocked down form sothat it may be assembled by the user or the retail outlet, such assemblybeing characterized by the absence of any requirement for special toolsor skilled workmen.

Another object is to form the members comprising a tubular framestructure in such a fashion that the members may be readily assem'bledby unskilled workmen using only the simplest tools.

Still another object is to form the members of a tubular frame structurein such a fashion that they may readily be fastened together to form astructure which will be unusually rigid and able to withstand loads orforces tending to disrupt the connection between such members.

Yet another object is to form the members making up a tubular framechair structure with certain configurations in cross-section of thetubing employed therein to the end that these configurations may beemployed with clips or separating members and connecting bolts toconnect the members in a rigid and firm assembly.

Still another object is to enable tubular metal frame furniture to beassembled in such a fashion that the means for such assembly will not bediscernible to the user.

Other and further objects and important features of the invention willbe apparent from the following description and claims and areillustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration,show a preferred embodiment and the principles thereof and what I nowconsider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying theseprinciples. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same orequivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made asdesired by those skilled 'in the art without departing from the presentinvention and the purview of the appended claims.

' In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a chair frame embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a chair frame embodying the inventionbut employing frame members of a different shape from that of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the frame members ofFigs. 1 and 2 which lie in a substantially horizontal plane to provide asupport for a seat and showing details of the manner in which the framemembers are secured together;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view looking in the direction of the arrows44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a transverse section similar to Fig. 4 and showing an.alternative construction.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2as embodied in a pair of differently formed chair frame structures. Thechair frame structure is indicated at I20 and is provided with framemembers I2I and I22 which are fastened to a substantially U-shaped framemember I 23 to form a tubular frame structure.

The members HI and I22 have leg portions I24 and bridge portions I25which lie in a substantially horizontal common plane. The substantiallyU-shaped frame member I23 has upstanding portions I2! and substantiallyhorizontal spacedportions I28 which lie in the plane common to theportions I26 of the frame members IZI, the spaced contiguous pairs offrame portions I26 and I28 being connected as indicated generally atI29, and as will be described'presently more fully. The forward ends ofthe portions I28 are joined by an integral front bar I28F. In order toprovide for the attachment of a seat the frame portions I25 are providedwith holes I3 I and in order to provide for the attachment of a back theupstanding portions I2'I are provided with mounting holes I32 near theirupper ends.

The tubular frame chair structure IZIIA of Fig. 2 consists of spacedframe members I2IA and I22A and a substantially U-shaped member I23A.The members I2 IA and I22A have leg portions I24A and substantiallyhorizontal portions 2,643,706 i F p invention described with referenceto Figs. 3 to 5 is further characterized by the advantage that the meansfor fastening the frame members together is not visible to the user, allexterior surfaces being unbroken or unmarred by the fastening meansdescribed.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the presentinvention enables frames for furniture, such as chairs, to be shipped ina the portions I28A which are contiguous to the portions I 26A showngenerally at I29A and which will be described more fully hereinafter.Holes I3IA are provided in the portions IZBA of the members IZIA andI22A to the end that achair seat, not shown, may be secured to the framestructure I28, and similar holes I32A are provided 7 near upper ends ofportions I2'IA to enable a chair back to be secured thereto.

Referring now to Figs. 3 to 5, the fastening means I29 of Fig. l, whichis similar to the fastening means I29A shown with reference to Fig, 2(the description of the fastening means of Fig. 1, therefore, willsuffice for Fig. 2 as well) comprises U-shaped spacer elements I 36having vertical limbs I 31 adapted to follow the surface of thecontiguous frame portions I26 and I28, and which are provided with lugsI38 adapted to extend into and interlock with openings I39 formed in theproximate faces, of the contiguous portions I26 and I28. The frameportions I26 and E28 are adapted to be held in such interlocked relationwith the spacer elements I36 by means of a bolt MI which passes throughthe frame portion I28 and which cooperates With nut I52 which is of thesame kind as the nut 39 so as to have a shoulder I43 on the exterior ofthe contiguous portion I26 and a shoulder I 44 on the interior of theframe portion I26.

Alternately, the proximate faces of the contiguous frame portions I26and I28 of Fig. 1 (and similarly the contiguous frame portions I26A andI28A of Fig. 2) may be deformed to provide contiguous frame portions 263and I28B which are spaced by spacer elements I363 having limbs 137Bformed to match the contour of the proximate faces of the portions IZGBand I28B, the assembly shown in Fig. 6 being joined by means of a bolt IlIB passing through the frame portions I2I5B and I28B and secured by anut MZB. The rotative locking action in this form of the invention isattained by forming notches M13 in the opposite sides of the limbsI3'IB, and forming the adjacent side walls of the members I26B and I28Bin an angular shape I48B that is complemental in part with the notchesI413. The bolt MIB serves, of course, to draw the elements M113 and I48Binto a firmly interlocked relation.

The tubular frame chair or furniture structure described with referenceto Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, is conveniently and readily assembled bypersons requiring no particular degree of skill, and the resultantstructure is able to resist all the usual kind of loads placed thereon.With the arrangement of the fastening means shown with particularreference to Figs. 3 to 5, inclusive, the contiguous frame portions I26and I28 are held against rotation on their axes with respect to eachother, as well as against longitudinal displacement, thus insuring thatthe frame members making up the chair frame structure will not becomemisaligned. The embodiment of the convenient knocked down form, themembers comprising such 'a chair frame or the like being capable ofbeing readily assembled by the workers in the usual retail furniturestore to afford such a rigid frame.

It will be evident, of course, that the connected parts are heldsecurely against relative longitudinal displacement as well as againstrelative rocking of the tubular members about the axes of the connectedparts. Moreover, the parts are so formed and related as to effectuallyresist the crushing forces incident to the tightening of the clamping orsecuring bolts.

Thus, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment ofmy invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variationand modification, and that I, therefore, do not wish to be limited tothe precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of suchchanges and alterations as shall fall within the purview of thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. In a furniture frame structure, a pair of separately formed tubularframe members respectively affording elongated securing portions, saidsecuring portions being disposed in spaced parallel side by siderelation to each other, a substantially U-shaped spacer element havinglimbs lying between said portions in a transverse relation thereto, saidportions being provided with spaced holes on the proximate facesthereof, said spacer element having lugs thereon adapted to. fit intosaid spaced holes, and means clamping said portions together with thespacer element therebetween whereby the portions are prevented fromrotation along their axes with respect to each other.

2. In a furniture frame structure, a pair of separately formed tubularframe members respectively affording elongated securing portions, saidsecuring portions being disposed in spaced parallel relation to eachother, a spacer member lying between said portions, at least one of saidportions being provided with a hole in the proximate face thereof, saidspacer member having a lugthereon adapted to fit within said hole, andmeans clamping said securing portions together with the spacer membertherebetween whereby the portions are prevented from rotation alongtheir .axeswith respect to each other.

3. In a furniture frame structure, a pair of separately formed tubularframe members respectively affording elongated securing portions, saidsecuring portions being disposed in spaced side by side parallelrelation, a substantially U-shaped spacer element having limbs lyingbetween said portions in a transverse relation thereto, said securingportions being provided with spaced holes on the proximate facesthereof, the limbs of said spacer element having lugs thereoncomplemental to and fitted snugly in the respective spaced holes in bothof said frame members, and means clamping said portions together withthe spacer element therebetween whereby the securing portions are heldagainst rotation about their axeswith respect to each other.

4. In a furniture frame structure, a pair of separately formed tubularframe members respectively afiording elongated securing portions, saidsecuring portions being disposed in spaced parallel relation, a spacermember lying between said portions, at least one of said portions beingprovided with a hole in the proximate face thereof, said spacer memberhaving a lug thereon complemental to and extended snugly into said hole,and means clamping said portions together with the spacer membertherebetween whereby said one portion is held against rotation about itsaxis with respect to said spacer member.

5. In a furniture frame structure, a pair of separately formed tubularframe members respectively affording elongated securing portions, saidsecuring portions being disposed in spaced parallel relation, asubstantially U-shaped spacer element having limb portions lying betweensaid portions in a transverse relation thereto, said portions beingprovided with spaced locating holes on the proximate faces thereof, saidspacer element having lugs thereon complemental to and extended. intosaid spaced locating holes, a nut fixed in such face of one of saidframe members,

and a clamping bolt extended diametrically through the other of saidframe members and.

threaded into said nut to clamp said portions together with the spacerelement therebetween whereby the portions are held against rotationabout their axes.

WILLIAM N. BROWN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED, STATES PATENTS

